In our society we deal with grief differently among different people. While grief is universal and everyone feels it when a loved one dies, manners of coping vary greatly. Many people don’t like to grieve openly or even ever admit to grieving at all. Others weep constantly as almost a cultural norm. Some people are ashamed to have anyone else ever see them crying. A whole lot of people prefer to hide from their mourning and act like no one has died. They don’t want to deal with their grief, they just want to go on like nothing has happened. They may not even know how to deal with it.
Our society doesn’t deal well with grief. It isn’t expressed as it should be in a normal healthy fashion. We, as a culture, are uncomfortable with death. Often if a neighbor’s husband or wife has just died, friends of the family don’t know what to say and feel awkward going to visit. As a result, friends distance themselves and the grieving family finds they are left alone and isolated with no one in sympathy or to give solace.
It doesn’t take much to lend an understanding, sympathetic ear. Visit your grieving neighbor and just spend time listening if they want to talk. Tell them you’ll be glad to pick up some groceries for them, watch their kids while they’re out doing errands, or prepare a meal for them. Offer to help with something. The one in mourning doesn’t expect you to make them feel better necessarily. They just would like someone to listen to them for a while, to understand and be sympathetic, and be there for them during a difficult time.
We need to deal with death and grieving in our society in a more humane way, understanding that death is a natural part of life that we all go through. And not treat it like the plague and something we want to avoid dealing with just because it’s awkward for us.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon
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